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BiTS INTERVIEW: Halley DeVestern

The Halley DeVestern Band is a high-energy Blues Funk Roots Rock band from New York City
featuring ex members of Roger Waters, Shawn Mullins, Deni Bonet, and more.

They have toured nationally and internationally, had a #1 song on the prestigious Roots
Music Report (keeping company with The Tedeschi-Trucks Band, Norah Jones and the like)
and were in the running for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
Ian McKenzie spoke to Halley on the telephone at her home in New York city.

BiTS: Tell me something about your early life, where you started, where were you born and that
sort of thing?

HD: I was born in Manhattan. I lived most of my life

on Long Island early on. I was born in 1963, so I’m up
in there in age and I studied acting. I went to acting
school for college and I got into music around that era,
and I came late to music because I was focused on
acting mostly, and that’s about it.

BiTS: Your college degree was from the University
College of Fine Arts. Is that the one in Boston?

HD: Yes, Boston University.

BiTS: What did the course involve? Was it acting or
did you do singing and dancing and that sort of thing?
Was it everything?

HD: It was just acting. I got a degree, a Bachelor in
Fine Arts—a BFA—in acting.

BiTS: I’ve done a bit of research in preparation for
this chat. I see that you’ve done some voiceover work

as well. Are you still doing that?

HD: Yes, I am. It’s something that’s easy to do from home, so I’m doing a lot of that and with COVID
and everything it’s safer than going out on a set and doing a movie shoot or a commercial shoot.

BiTS: You, at some stage, were fronting with the Janis Joplin band, Big Brother and the Holding
Company. How did that come about? Did you do auditions for it? Were you in competition with
other people?

HD: No, what happened was I applied for a spot in the Lilith Fair competition to perform at Lilith
Fair and it happened to be run by an assistant to Ron Delsener, who was a big concert promoter

here in New York. His assistant played my demo for him, and he liked me so much that I met with
him, which was very exciting, and he said I want to do something with you, but I don’t know quite
what to do, but I know that Big Brother and the Holding Company is looking for a singer for their
East Coast tour. I hooked up with them. He sent them my demo and they liked it so much that they
hired me on the spot. We didn’t do any rehearsals, they just sent me recordings to learn the songs
and we met up in Indianapolis and did the first gig there without rehearsal and it went great. It was